The gamma-proteobacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans lives in extremely acidic conditions (pH 2) and, unlike most organisms, is confronted with an abundant supply of soluble iron. It is also unusual in that it oxidizes iron as an energy source. Consequently, it faces the challenging dual problems of (i) maintaining intracellular iron homeostasis when confronted with extremely high environme...

Biological processes based on oxidation of sulfur compounds by chemolithotrophic microorganisms are emerging as an efficient and eco-friendly technique for removal of sulfur from the coal. In the present article, study was carried out to investigate the potential of biodesulfurization process in removing the sulfur from lignite coal sample collected from a Mongolian coal mine. The batch biodesu...

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco) is responsible for almost all biological CO2 assimilation, but forms inhibited complexes with its substrate ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) and other sugar phosphates. The distantly related AAA+ proteins rubisco activase and CbbX remodel inhibited rubisco complexes to effect inhibitor release in plants and α-proteobacteria, respectively...

The iron-oxidizing bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans MON-1 is highly resistant not only to mercuric chloride (HgCl(2)) but also to organomercurials such as methylmercury chloride (MMC). We have found that cytochrome c oxidase, purified from strain MON-1, reduces Hg(2+) to volatilizable metal mercury (Hg(0)) with reduced mammalian cytochrome c or Fe(2+) as an electron donor. In this study...